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During a revealing discussion, the acclaimed performer opens up on topics ranging from her latest role as a regal sea creature to the profound lessons gleaned from onstage mishaps and meeting admirers.

Given the Chance to Become a Sea Creature for a Day

Your latest role is the monarch of the cuttlefish in The Pout-Pout Fish; if you could be a fish for a day, which one would you choose and why?

Straight away, that particular fish residing near Clovelly beach – because it’s a local landmark, and individuals visit to see it. I just think it’s cool that there’s a local fish that people actually seek out and talk about – it holds a unique status.

A Cinematic Staple to Return To

Which movie do you repeatedly watch, and why?

Ernst Lubitsch's 1942 comedy To Be Or Not To Be. I adore this picture. During my growing up, it used to come on television occasionally, and once I recorded it. I found it was hilarious. It stars Carole Lombard and comedian Jack Benny. Recently they were showing it at a cinema and I discovered that it was also the favourite film of a friend of mine, and so we went and just laughed and laughed. It’s such masterful work of humor and all the actors in it are fantastic. Mel Brooks did a remake in the 1980s – which was not as effective. But Lubitsch's version is an exceptional farce, worth viewing regularly.

The Best Lesson Gained Through a Fellow Actor

What’s the best lesson you took away from someone you’ve worked with?

I was doing A Doll’s House with Pete – now my spouse, but back then we were not a couple. We were playing as scene partners and on opening night I tripped up – I skipped forward some dialogue in the script. I was unaware what I’d done but I suddenly realised something wasn’t right. I recall looking at him, and he expertly rescued the moment, and then our performance took off again and went really, really well. However, I believe what I learned in that moment was, firstly, always trust the individuals you’re working with. If you don’t know where you are, by looking and look at the people sharing the stage with, you will find where you’re meant to be somehow. It is a profoundly communal thing, performing live. And next, just to have a sense of fun about it. Occasionally when a mistake occurs, things actually spark off in a really great way provided you are fully engaged in that moment. It can be an unexpected boon when things go completely the wrong way.

Memorable Exchanges with Fans

What’s been your most touching encounter with a fan?

There isn't just one specific meeting but when I encounter devotees of Lord of the Rings, especially female fans, I hear a lot of stories about how that character impacted them when they were growing up … things that had happened in their lives and how much Eowyn signified for them and was a form of support to them during those periods.

Which questions get asked most frequently by Lord of the Rings fans?

The most specific question is always about the stew that Eowyn serves Aragorn. “Was the stew as terrible as it looked?” It has evolved into a running gag, the whole thing about the stew, and everyone wants to know the contents of the pot, and its preparation method, and in your opinion she’s a better cook now, or do you think she really is a bad cook? Fans seem, I think, obsessed with the humour of that situation. And I provide great detail describing the ingredients that constituted the stew – because I remember what they did; like they even put bits of colored thread to make it look like bits of veins in the meat. They went to great detail to make it look as unappetizing as possible.

An Awkward Star Meeting

What’s been your most cringeworthy run-in with a famous person?

I was at a pilates class and there was a woman on a mat exercising, and the instructor said to me, “Oh, Miranda, this is Miranda.” And I made a lighthearted remark inquiring, “might you be a journalist?” Because it’s an uncommon moniker and often when I meet another Miranda, they work in media. I wasn’t really seeing who it was. And when she got up, it was Miranda Richardson. Then I didn’t know what to say. I was obliged to complete my class, and I felt intense awkwardness. I wished to explain: “Oh my gosh, I do know who you are!” I think her talent is immense and I was just too starstruck to say anything.

The Source of a Moniker

It’s been repeatedly stated that you were given your name from Prospero’s daughter in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and yet you've mentioned stating otherwise – can you clarify this definitively?

Yes – I was named after the Sydney suburb. Mum learned via broadcast that they were inaugurating a shopping centre at that location, and the name sounded like a nice name.

Pandemonium on Set

What’s the most chaotic thing that’s ever happened on set?

While working in Brazil on Reaching for the Moon I experienced the least organized set I’ve ever worked on, and yet the film emerged incredibly well. But they just work in such a different way. Their concept of time there is unique. Typically, you receive a schedule and you have to be on set by a certain time. But this was sort of flexible – you come on set at one's convenience. It was a novel way of working for me. All aspects were being assembled at the very last minute, and sometimes the plan was unclear the next location or the methodology. And then you’d be in during a scene and wondering, “What caused that sound that just interrupted the scene? Oh, it’s the producer popping open a bottle on set, to start a party.” It turned out great, but goodness, it’s a really different style of film-making.

A Secret Talent

Do you have a secretly good at?

I’ve always been an aptitude for numbers. I memorise numbers more readily than I learn dialogue often, I simply have that kind of a brain. So I think had I not pursued acting, I probably would have entered a field something to do with numbers, like math or accounting.

The Best Piece of Advice Given

What’s the best piece of advice you have ever received?

When I was in secondary school, a speaker came to speak when we were graduating and they said, “have no fear to fail” … which I think is supremely valuable counsel, because you learn so much more from setbacks than you learn from triumph. Success, one rarely understand precisely why it happened. With failure, the lessons are abundant.